Leased Helicopter Era for French Air Force
18 March, 2020

While the Cold War equipment is nearing the end of its economic life, user countries are coming up with new action plans and measures.

The French Air Force (Armée de l'Air / ALA) has announced that it will be replace veteran SA330 Puma helicopters, which are nearing the end of their useful life. The force, which plans to lease 20 H225s from Airbus in the first place, plans to use these platforms in missions such as search-rescue and air raid. While the published document does not contain precise information about the permanent acquirement of 20 platforms to replace SA330s, the authorities also point out the possibility that there may be an stop-gap solution to prevent force weakness until the main procurement process.

There are currently 25 SA330s in the inventory of France. The average age of these platforms is 43.